


Seasons Change

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 16:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8496820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: A little backstory on Louisa and her family relationships (mostly with her dad).





	

Louisa sang little snatches of the songs she was listening to as she worked. She didn’t exactly need to clean Goldenleaf Stables from top to bottom, but she wanted to leave them clean for whoever moved their horse here next. And it would be good practice for her future working for the people in the Silverglade region. Specifically, the Moorland family. They had teamed up with the Jorvik Equine Institute to start a program wherein young girls like herself would be able to work their way towards attending the prestigious place. Apparently, the families of the Silverglade region would sent the Institute weekly reports on Louisa’s progress- any high scores she was getting, how many horses she’d trained, and how much she’d been helping the people of Silverglade.

The plan had originally been for Louisa to immediately begin the program as she soon as she’d moved here. But she hadn’t counted on how enchanted she would be by this place, or how much she’d bond with her father. And so a year had passed until Louisa had finally felt settled in enough to start working here. A large part of that had been due to getting Westrider over here from Australia. He was her horse, her trusted companion, and she’d wanted him here with her. Unfortunately, she’d have to leave him behind for the program. But, as her aunt always said, sometimes sacrifices had to be made in order to get what you wanted out of life.

Westie was currently standing outside the stables, tied to the fence near the notice board. He snorted, seemingly in amusement, at his rider’s antics as she began dancing around the stable and singing louder. She flung her soapy rag at the walls, then worked on scrubbing away the sand and mud that had almost become fused to the wall. Westie had heard that some horses in Jorvik could actually converse with their riders, but he didn’t possess that ability with his rider. Not yet, anyway. If he could talk, though, he’d tell her not to worry so much about her future. Humans seemed to live forever, at least to horses. Westie was fairly young, having been given to Louisa as a lanky colt only a few years ago, but he was still aware that she would outlive him. It was just the way of things.

Louisa was exhausted when she finally finished cleaning the stables. She sat down heavily on the bench near the stable selling horses, and looked over at her handiwork. The walls, floor, and even the loft were cleaner than they’d ever been since the stables had been built. Fresh hay and water had been placed in every stall, and every minor broken thing had been fixed or at least pointed out to Carin so someone more qualified could fix it.

“You’re done,” said Louisa’s father, walking over to his daughter with a grin and taking a seat beside her.

“Yeah,” said Louisa, giving her father a tired smile. “Thought I should practice.”

“I don’t think Moorland will be anywhere near this difficult,” said her father, wrapping an arm around his daughter. “It has a beach but it’s only a small one, and not so close to the stables.”

“Oh, good,” said Louisa, and laughed.

“What’s wrong?” her dad asked, hearing her go quiet.

“I’m nervous,” said Louisa, looking down at her hands. “I’ve never been away from home on my own before. At least, not for anything longer than a holiday.”

“Well, it’s only for a while,” said her dad. “And you can still come visit me. I might even see you when I’m out fishing.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Louisa, giving a faint smile at that. “I wish I could at least bring Westie along with me.”

“I had a look at the program’s website again last night and you can travel to Golden Hills again when you’ve been working there long enough,” said her father. “The program will lead you all over the island, won’t that be good?”

“Yeah, it will be,” said Louisa, her smile growing bigger. That had been one of the things that had drawn her to the program in the first place.

“Whenever you’re homesick, just think of that,” said her dad. “And you can call me, as long as I don’t drop my phone in the ocean again.” Louisa giggled at that, wiping away tears.

The next day, Louisa’s father drove a horse trailer to the gate of Golden Hills while Louisa rode Westrider for what would undoubtedly be the last time in weeks. She almost cried again when she bid him farewell, but settled for just kissing her horse’s nose and hugging him. She did the same with her father, minus the nose-kissing. There was a car waiting outside the gates for her, one that would take her to Moorland.

“You got everything?” asked her dad, still smiling despite the sadness that he must be feeling.

“Yeah,” said Louisa. “And anything else, you can just send to me.” She gave him one last hug, savouring the safe firmness of his body. He was as solid and dependable as a brick wall, and she’d miss him dearly. When she pulled away, there were tears in her eyes. “Bye, dad. Bye, Westie.”

“Bye,” her dad called, waving and still grinning. Louisa got in the car and then waved out the window at them until she couldn’t see them anymore. And then she cried all the way to Moorland.

Justin, the boy who met her in the stable yard, was the only one tactless (or caring) enough to say anything.

“Hey, are you okay?” asked Justin, seeing her blotchy face.

“Yeah, just… goodbyes are hard,” said Louisa with a little shrug. “I had to say goodbye to my dad, and I’ve only just reunited with him a year ago.”

“Oh,” said Justin. “I understand. Family is really important to me too.” He put a hand on her shoulder, and Louisa smiled at his kind gesture. “Now, how about I distract you by introducing you to the horse you’ll be starting this program with?”

“Okay,” said Louisa, wiping her sweaty hands on her program-issued pants. Seeing the pinto-pattenered horse that Justin led over to her did cheer Louisa. She liked horses with pretty splashes of colour on them like that.

“This is Goldmist,” said Justin. “He’ll be your horse to start off with. He’s a bit older but he’s friendly. As you earn more money and help more people, you’ll be able to buy more horses if you want.”

“Cool,” said Louisa, and smiled. Justin showed her how to do everything with Goldie, and then introduced her to some people who lived and worked in Moorland. Unfortunately, not everyone was as nice as Justin.

“I saw you talking to Justin,” said a snobby blonde girl (who Louisa immediately loathed, if just for her attitude). “You should keep away from him. He’s mine.”

“He was being friendly, you bitch,” said Louisa, not in the mood for this brat. “And I’m not even into guys anyway, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Ha! I told you not everyone loved him, Loretta,” a brunette girl teased, pulling Louisa over to her while Loretta gaped at Louisa’s words.

“Oh, yay, Tan finally found a gay friend,” said Loretta. The look that Tan threw at Loretta could’ve melted iron.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s just possessive,” said Tan. “They’re not dating, by the way. Loretta’s just…”

“A total bitch?” asked Louisa.

“Well, yeah, but she’s also my best friend,” said Tan.

“Oh,” said Louisa. “Sorry.” Clearly, this Tan girl was the mean girl’s lackey.

Weeks passed, and Louisa found more and more work to do. She even managed to save up enough star coins to buy a pony, with the weekly allowance of one hundred that all members of the program (called Star Riders) received. As time passed, Louisa began to ask people about Golden Hills. Nobody could tell her anything, so eventually she stopped asking. It wasn’t like she could remember where it was, anyway. She’d been too busy crying to remember the way from there to Moorland, and she had a nasty tendency to get lost if she went exploring.

When at last a mission sent her to the riding hall, Louisa rode Goldmist at a gallop over to the gates, wanting to get home. Goldmist came to a hard stop in front of them, though.

The gates were locked. The sight almost made Louisa start crying again, but then she remembered that it had been winter not long after she’d left. Though it was strange that the gates were still closed. Nobody could tell her why the gates were locked, as they were all too busy with their own things to wonder about some locked gates.

And then finally, the councilman in Silverglade answered Louisa’s question.

“The gates are closed every winter to keep the winter spirits in,” said the councilman.

“Yes, I know,” said Louisa. “I used to live there. Why are they still shut, though?”

“I don’t know,” said the councilman, shrugging his round shoulders. “But in Silverglade Castle, there’s a portrait of the mayor of Cape West Fishing Village. The key to the city is around his neck.” He sent her off to go look at it and Louisa was confused but went anyway.

The idea came to her when she was looking at the painting. It was so detailed that it might just be possible to make a copy of the key from the painting. It was a long shot, but at this point, she was desperate. She’d even called her father, but he’d just told her that the mayor had refused to speak about the gates being locked.

“You want me to make a copy of this key from a painting?” asked Conrad, looking skeptically at Louisa.

“Yes,” said Louisa. “I know it’s strange but I just want to go home.”

“I understand,” said Conrad. “It might take a while to make the key, though, and even then, it might not work.”

“I have to try,” said Louisa.

The key felt awkward in Louisa’s hand when she fished it out at the gates a few days later. Her hands were sweaty and shaking, so she tried to still them. She tried the lock once. Twice. The key broke on the third try, and Louisa almost fell to the ground in despair. But then she saw that the padlock was open. She pushed the gates open and stepped in, feeling the familiar feeling of home wash over her.

An orange shape detached itself from the rest of the orange, and Louisa grinned and threw her arms around Westie’s neck as her horse almost barrelled into her.

“Yes, Westie, I’m home,” said Louisa, laughing and crying at the same time. He wore no tack, but she swung herself up onto his back anyway. And then she rode him back home, letting Jasper take care of Goldmist.

Her father was equally happy to see her, hugging her tightly for a long time. It was so good to be home.


End file.
